Second Sunday in Lent 3/08/09 Text: Genesis 17: 1-7; 15-16 Title: And Abraham Laughed.
Second Sunday in Lent
3/08/09
Text: Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16
Title: "And Abraham Laughed"
We read in our Old Testament reading for today that God can do anything. He is going to give to this old couple, Abram and Sarai a child from which Jesus will come. It is a great prophecy which is mean to bolster our belief that the coming of Jesus was planned long before he was born.
As I was reading the assigned text earlier in the week I continued to read the next few verses, so that I could get a better understanding of the text. Verse 17, the verse right after God tells Abraham that he is going to be a parent reads, “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed. Now that does not mean that he fell down from laughing so hard, but that he laughed at the ridiculousness of the promise, even while respecting God. He didn’t believe the promise. He continued, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? The promise that Sarai at 90 is going to become pregnant is just not believable, so Abram laughs. He just can’t help himself.
It does seem a little ridiculous doesn't it; almost a joke. Even when you know that that the person speaking is God, it still doesn't seem credible. I mean you would have to be pretty naive wouldn't you to accept that promise at face value? Some things are difficult to believe. Even Abraham the man that is held up as one of the greatest men of faith that ever lived laughed when he heard God promise him a child.
No, it's not really possible! In fact it is ridiculous; and so Abraham laughed, and a few days later, when finally Sarah heard this idea from the three angels, she too laughed, as she thought, “After I am worn out, and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure!"
We wonder how could Abram and Sarai laugh after hearing God promise them a child? Where was their faith? But how often are we like Abram and Sarai? How often do we laugh at what God has said to us? How often, despite our best intentions, do we doubt his promises to care for us?
I think it is more common than we would like to admit. Here are just a couple examples to show you what I mean. When you pray to God for daily bread, do you pray that God would give daily bread to those starving in foreign lands, or that he will guide those he has put over us to govern us. When you pray to God for forgiveness and help in forgiving others do you pray that God would also forgive and help those to forgive who live in war torn lands, where hatred thrives.
I mention these two prayers because it is easy to trust God for those things that we have some control over, but it is awfully hard to trust God to do those things that we don't control, those things that we can't do anything to bring to pass ourselves.
It is easy to trust God for things we think possible, but hard to trust him for things we think impossible. When we trust God for our daily bread, in the back of our minds we already know how God will feed us, we know that if we go to work we will be able to bring home some groceries, just as we know that if we ask God to help us forgive someone, that it will most likely come to pass if we call up that person and try to talk to them.
But food for millions of starving people, we don't see how it is possible, just as the disciples couldn't see how it was possible to feed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish; nor can we see how war might cease between the nations, just as many of the Pharisees could not see how it was possible for God to love sinners?
And so we do not ask God to do the impossible, or if we do we do not really expect God to do it, instead we look for God to do those things and to bless those things which already lie within our comprehension, within our ability to do something about. That's how it was with Abram, he trusted God, and he did what he believed God wanted him to do, even when it was difficult to do so; even when he had to leave his own country and his own family. And when Abram saw he could do something to make the divine promises come true, he did that as well.
That is how Ishmael came to be born; Ishmael, the fourteen year old child that is referred to in today's reading, the one that, after he finishes laughing, Abram asks God to bless. You see from the very beginning of Abram's faith journey he believed that God was going to give him a son, and through that child's children and their children and their children in turn, that God was going to bless the world, and that he was going to make the name of Abraham great.
From the very beginning of his journey Abraham believed in the promises of God, and he trusted God, for almost everything, as long as he knew he could accomplish it. But after a few years had gone by and he still didn't have a child, and Sarai was getting old, and after all she was willing to let him impregnate another woman, so that a child could be born to him. It all made sense, at least at the time, for he figured that maybe this was the way that God meant to bring the promise to pass and so he had sex with Hagar, sinning against God, and Ishmael was born and now the world is in the mess it is in.
Abram was a man of faith. As the Scriptures say, he is father of all those who have faith today, the spiritual ancestor of all those who not only wish to see the promises of God come true, but who are also willing to work to make them come true.
Abram was a man of faith, indeed in the bible he is THE MAN of faith; But for all that, Abram, like so many of us, trusted God more easily when he could see how God was going to do what God has promised to do.
Although they lived four thousand years ago, Abram and Sarai were like us, and we as people of faith, are like them. Like them, we believe in God, and like them we tend to laugh at the idea that God will do anything out of the ordinary; like them we tend to rely on our own understanding of how things work, rather than on the wisdom of God.
Like them we sincerely endeavor to trust in God, and like them we all too often leave God out of our equations because we do not see how God can make any difference to them.
Abraham’s questions are not any different than our own questions. How can God use me? I couldn't possibly teach a Bible Time classs - I am too shy. I can't do that. - I'm not strong enough. I'm not wise enough. I'm not good enough. I don't have enough money.
Where is God in our prayers or statements of faith, or lack thereof when we say, “It won't work; we tried it before, no one cares. The rules cannot be changed.” The list could go on and on, for like Abram we too have a hard time believing God can do those things we cannot do.
The marvelous thing about Abram and Sarai, is that even though they left God out of their equation when they laughed and said to themselves that it was impossible to have a child at that late stage in their lives, even though a significant part of them doubted God, when push came to shove, a larger part of them trusted in God's promises and believed that God had the power to do in them what he had promised to do.
As Paul writes, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. Without weakening in his faith he faced the fact that he was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and Sarai because of her age could not have children. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. And so he became the father of many nations and he was considered by God to be righteous.”
There are some things that we find hard to believe and some promises are hard to trust in, but if we trust God anyway, if we believe in his promises to us despite their fantastic nature, then even if part of us laughs, and part of us doubts, we will be what God meant us to be, and God's blessings will abide with us as they did with Abraham and Sarah.
In Christ God has promised us so much; he holds before us not just forgiveness of our sins, and life everlasting, but he offers as well a full and rich life here and now, a life where, if he wills it, we can do what we think is impossible for us to do, and where our brothers and sisters in the faith can be what we thought they could never be.
My dear people of faith remember that even in these hard times God is in the equation. He is not just sitting out there looking down at you. He loves you and he loves the world and wants the best for it. Leave this holy house today trusting God to do what he said he will do. Let God do what he does best in those seemingly impossible situations of your life whatever they might be. For when you do God's power will be set lose in you, and your laughter of doubt will be turned into the laughter of joy and faith. Amen.
3/08/09
Text: Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16
Title: "And Abraham Laughed"
We read in our Old Testament reading for today that God can do anything. He is going to give to this old couple, Abram and Sarai a child from which Jesus will come. It is a great prophecy which is mean to bolster our belief that the coming of Jesus was planned long before he was born.
As I was reading the assigned text earlier in the week I continued to read the next few verses, so that I could get a better understanding of the text. Verse 17, the verse right after God tells Abraham that he is going to be a parent reads, “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed. Now that does not mean that he fell down from laughing so hard, but that he laughed at the ridiculousness of the promise, even while respecting God. He didn’t believe the promise. He continued, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? The promise that Sarai at 90 is going to become pregnant is just not believable, so Abram laughs. He just can’t help himself.
It does seem a little ridiculous doesn't it; almost a joke. Even when you know that that the person speaking is God, it still doesn't seem credible. I mean you would have to be pretty naive wouldn't you to accept that promise at face value? Some things are difficult to believe. Even Abraham the man that is held up as one of the greatest men of faith that ever lived laughed when he heard God promise him a child.
No, it's not really possible! In fact it is ridiculous; and so Abraham laughed, and a few days later, when finally Sarah heard this idea from the three angels, she too laughed, as she thought, “After I am worn out, and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure!"
We wonder how could Abram and Sarai laugh after hearing God promise them a child? Where was their faith? But how often are we like Abram and Sarai? How often do we laugh at what God has said to us? How often, despite our best intentions, do we doubt his promises to care for us?
I think it is more common than we would like to admit. Here are just a couple examples to show you what I mean. When you pray to God for daily bread, do you pray that God would give daily bread to those starving in foreign lands, or that he will guide those he has put over us to govern us. When you pray to God for forgiveness and help in forgiving others do you pray that God would also forgive and help those to forgive who live in war torn lands, where hatred thrives.
I mention these two prayers because it is easy to trust God for those things that we have some control over, but it is awfully hard to trust God to do those things that we don't control, those things that we can't do anything to bring to pass ourselves.
It is easy to trust God for things we think possible, but hard to trust him for things we think impossible. When we trust God for our daily bread, in the back of our minds we already know how God will feed us, we know that if we go to work we will be able to bring home some groceries, just as we know that if we ask God to help us forgive someone, that it will most likely come to pass if we call up that person and try to talk to them.
But food for millions of starving people, we don't see how it is possible, just as the disciples couldn't see how it was possible to feed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish; nor can we see how war might cease between the nations, just as many of the Pharisees could not see how it was possible for God to love sinners?
And so we do not ask God to do the impossible, or if we do we do not really expect God to do it, instead we look for God to do those things and to bless those things which already lie within our comprehension, within our ability to do something about. That's how it was with Abram, he trusted God, and he did what he believed God wanted him to do, even when it was difficult to do so; even when he had to leave his own country and his own family. And when Abram saw he could do something to make the divine promises come true, he did that as well.
That is how Ishmael came to be born; Ishmael, the fourteen year old child that is referred to in today's reading, the one that, after he finishes laughing, Abram asks God to bless. You see from the very beginning of Abram's faith journey he believed that God was going to give him a son, and through that child's children and their children and their children in turn, that God was going to bless the world, and that he was going to make the name of Abraham great.
From the very beginning of his journey Abraham believed in the promises of God, and he trusted God, for almost everything, as long as he knew he could accomplish it. But after a few years had gone by and he still didn't have a child, and Sarai was getting old, and after all she was willing to let him impregnate another woman, so that a child could be born to him. It all made sense, at least at the time, for he figured that maybe this was the way that God meant to bring the promise to pass and so he had sex with Hagar, sinning against God, and Ishmael was born and now the world is in the mess it is in.
Abram was a man of faith. As the Scriptures say, he is father of all those who have faith today, the spiritual ancestor of all those who not only wish to see the promises of God come true, but who are also willing to work to make them come true.
Abram was a man of faith, indeed in the bible he is THE MAN of faith; But for all that, Abram, like so many of us, trusted God more easily when he could see how God was going to do what God has promised to do.
Although they lived four thousand years ago, Abram and Sarai were like us, and we as people of faith, are like them. Like them, we believe in God, and like them we tend to laugh at the idea that God will do anything out of the ordinary; like them we tend to rely on our own understanding of how things work, rather than on the wisdom of God.
Like them we sincerely endeavor to trust in God, and like them we all too often leave God out of our equations because we do not see how God can make any difference to them.
Abraham’s questions are not any different than our own questions. How can God use me? I couldn't possibly teach a Bible Time classs - I am too shy. I can't do that. - I'm not strong enough. I'm not wise enough. I'm not good enough. I don't have enough money.
Where is God in our prayers or statements of faith, or lack thereof when we say, “It won't work; we tried it before, no one cares. The rules cannot be changed.” The list could go on and on, for like Abram we too have a hard time believing God can do those things we cannot do.
The marvelous thing about Abram and Sarai, is that even though they left God out of their equation when they laughed and said to themselves that it was impossible to have a child at that late stage in their lives, even though a significant part of them doubted God, when push came to shove, a larger part of them trusted in God's promises and believed that God had the power to do in them what he had promised to do.
As Paul writes, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. Without weakening in his faith he faced the fact that he was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and Sarai because of her age could not have children. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. And so he became the father of many nations and he was considered by God to be righteous.”
There are some things that we find hard to believe and some promises are hard to trust in, but if we trust God anyway, if we believe in his promises to us despite their fantastic nature, then even if part of us laughs, and part of us doubts, we will be what God meant us to be, and God's blessings will abide with us as they did with Abraham and Sarah.
In Christ God has promised us so much; he holds before us not just forgiveness of our sins, and life everlasting, but he offers as well a full and rich life here and now, a life where, if he wills it, we can do what we think is impossible for us to do, and where our brothers and sisters in the faith can be what we thought they could never be.
My dear people of faith remember that even in these hard times God is in the equation. He is not just sitting out there looking down at you. He loves you and he loves the world and wants the best for it. Leave this holy house today trusting God to do what he said he will do. Let God do what he does best in those seemingly impossible situations of your life whatever they might be. For when you do God's power will be set lose in you, and your laughter of doubt will be turned into the laughter of joy and faith. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:22 PM
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